Empire Mayonnaise: Sam Mason's Experiment in a High-End Specialty

By The Atlantic Wire

Mayonnaise has all the hallmarks of a foodie cult-favorite ready to
follow the bacon's path in 2007. It's funny, a little trashy, tastes
good on a surprisingly huge number of things, and now it has its own
high-end purveyor. New York's Grub Street reported today that Sam Mason,
formerly of WD-50 and more recently as the driving force behind Soho's
Tailor, is planning to open a mayonnaise specialty shop in Brooklyn's up-and-coming Prospect Heights neighborhood. At least one New York food blog throws up its hands at Brooklyn's "total descent into self-parody,"
but there's no reason such a shop shouldn't get the same treatment as
any experiment in high-end specialty food store. And its owners have
reason to believe Empire Mayonnaise will succeed.

Mason's partner, Elizabeth Valleau, told Grub Street "that New York is
in the grips of a 'condiment revolution,' with room for growth; however,
as of yet 'nobody is coming in and owning the mayonnaise.'" Writer
Jessica Loudis seems dubious of that claim, but there's no denying
mayonnaise's rise in the national estimation. Last week, mayonnaise
(specifically, Hellman's) emerged as the best-selling condiment in the United States,
pulling ahead of salsa, which held the distinction since 2006. Whether
or not there's enough interest in the iconic oil-and-eggs spread to
support a store that sells only mayonnaise, plenty of New Yorkers and
foodies think the store is a step too far towards precious. The Village Voice's Rebecca Marx has had enough.